Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!

Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! is the tenth incarnation of Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo series of Saturday morning cartoons. It debuted on September 23, 2006, and ran for two seasons during the Kids WB Saturday morning block of The CW Television Network. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, this was the last cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera co-founder Joseph Barbera. The second season premiered in Canada on Teletoon September 6, 2010, and was also available online at Cartoon Network Online.

Production

The characters have also been re-designed to look like animated versions of how they appeared in the live-action Scooby-Doo film. For instance, Scooby is drawn with dot eyes. Thus, it is the third show in the Scooby-Doo series, after A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and What's New, Scooby-Doo?, that is not animated or drawn in the usual Hanna-Barbera style. This is also the first series in which Casey Kasem does not voice Shaggy, but is instead done by Scott Menville, although Scott Innes or Billy West portrayed the character in many of the Scooby-Doo animated movies made for television or home video. However, in this series, Kasem does voice Shaggy's rich and on-the-run Uncle Albert. Another noticeable difference is that Shaggy now wears a white short-sleeved shirt with a green strip across the middle and green sleeves instead of his trademark green T-shirt. Frank Welker still does Scooby's voice. In addition, Shaggy and Scooby's cowardice tendencies have been considerably toned down.

Much like The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo on ABC in 1985 (which had actual ghosts and monsters) and the Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo shorts in 1980, this show is different from the usual "crooks masquerading as ghosts and monsters" series. Fred Jones, Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley are downgraded, but not completely absent as they were in the Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo shorts. They cameo in the first episode and have full guest appearances in another season one. Fred and Daphne appear as silent cameos in one season two episode when they were not allowed to Dr. Phibes's "attractive people" party. Their silhouettes run across the screen in the opening credits in amongst the silhouettes of all the show's regular cast.

Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! was originally a replacement for What's New Scooby-Doo? in Scandinavia, 2009, but failed after a month of broadcast. The latter resumed airing.

Plot

The premise of the show revolves around the fact that Shaggy Rogers' incredibly rich Uncle Albert Shaggleford disappears and names Shaggy as his sole heir for an inheritance. With the help of the inheritance, Shaggy has upgraded the Mystery Machine but, it now has the ability to transform itself into a number of other different vehicles, like the "Hotdog Making Machine".

Dr. Albert Shaggleford had made some enemies before disappearing. Among the most dangerous is the archetypal evil genius and technology pirate out to take over the world and or become immortal—Dr. Phineas Phibes (who gets his name from the Vincent Price villain The Abominable Dr. Phibes). Dr. Phibes recruits various sidekicks and minions to help him with his plans, among them Dr. Trebla.

It appears that the supposedly late Dr. Shaggleford was, beyond being rich, an inventor in his own right, and his clueless young heir is now in possession of some very interesting nano technology. The top secret nanotech formula has been mixed in with Scooby Snacks, which, when eaten, cause a variety of day-saving side effects.

Shaggy and Scooby-Doo have a mission: armed with an updated Mystery Machine, a loyal robot servant named Robi, their new riches, and the new and improved Scooby Snacks, they must stop the evil plans of Phineas Phibes and save the world. In episode 2, Shaggy upgrades the Mystery Machine from its original form, to a high-tech transforming vehicle. However, it usually transforms into machines inappropriate for the tasks at hand (however, in episode 11, it does transform into vehicles appropriate to finish the Polar Bear 3000). In their spare time, Shaggy and Scooby are fans of the show Chefs of Steel, the famous mystery solver Chad Chatington.

Coincidentally, this is not the first time that Frank Welker has done the voice of Scott Menville's pet as the two of them did the voice of Ma-Ti (Menville) and his pet monkey Suchi (Welker) in the 1990-96 cartoon, Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

Further coincidence is Menville's voicing Shaggy, a character previously voiced by Casey Kasem. Both voice actors have also played Robin in Teen Titans and Super Friends, respectively.

Main characters

• Shaggy Rogers (voiced by Scott Menville):
• Scooby-Doo (voiced by Frank Welker): Shaggy's pet and best friend. He usually saves the day by consuming a nano-infused Scooby Snack which gives him an incredible power of some such.
• Robi (voiced by Jim Meskimen): A loyal robotic servant of Shaggy and Scooby-Doo. He is either defective or a failed experimental butler, but either way he has a tendency to bust through walls and other highly destructive things without second thoughts. Robi would also have various uses for Shaggy and Scooby, though he is a rather lousy cook, various impressions, and giving out safety tips (in a style similar to one Inspector Gadget). He also projects holograms of Uncle Albert when he wants to talk with Shaggy. Robi also usually calls Scooby "Rooby Roo" due to misunderstanding Scooby's voice.
• Dr. Albert Shaggleford (voiced by Casey Kasem): Shaggy's rich uncle who is a genius inventor. He always sends a transmission to Shaggy from an undisclosed location on Phibes' doings. As of the final episode, it is revealed that he was undercover as Dr. Trebla all along (for when you invert Trebla it is spelled Albert) and transmitting from Phibes' lair. He is allergic to peanuts.
• Dr. Phineus Phibes (voiced by Jeff Bennett): The primary villain of the series. In his youth, Phibes conducted a highly dangerous experiment with electricity, which cost him his left hand (he wears a prosthetic that seems to function as a high-tech Swiss Army knife) and makes him a living lightning rod—hence, he seldom ventures outdoors, as doing so makes him susceptible to being struck by lightning, regardless of the weather. Producer Eric Radomski had this to say about Dr. Phibes: "Dr. Phibes' exterior lair is deco influenced, and in the 13th episode, we introduce a feline friend of Dr. Phibes. Ray DeLaurentis would need to confirm, but I believe your assumption is correct. Dr. Phibes is Col. Klink plus Dr. Evil divided by Strangelove."^[1] Even though he does have a Hitler-like appearance, with his march and Nazi salute in the opening sequence.
• Dr. Trebla (voiced by Scott Menville): Dr. Trebla is Dr. Phibes' right-hand man who gives him advice and sees to his needs like his constant companion. In the series finale he is revealed to have been Uncle Albert working undercover all along revealing how he could give info on Phibes regularly to Shaggy and Scooby. A clue before this revelation is that his name is in fact Albert spelled backwards.
• Agent 1 (voiced by Jim Meskimen): Agent 1 is serious and hates Shaggy and Scooby. He often works with Agent 2, much to his chagrin, and the second in command. Agent 1 is also the one never to believe what his agents ever tell him, until he sees proof, as seen in "Zoinksman". He is often told to smack Agent 2 when he annoys Dr. Phibes. He is the only one who is more easily annoyed by Agent 2 than Dr. Phibes is.
• Agent 2 (voiced by Jeff Bennett): Agent 2 is a somewhat dimwitted and heavyset man who resents his name and wishes to be called something else. Among other personas he's adopted was a ninja in "High Society Scooby" and a racer called Dr. Speed. In one episode, his real name is revealed to be Jeff, a reference on his actor's name.

Supporting characters

• Agent 3 (voiced by Frank Welker): Agent 3 is a timid, but honest agent.
• Agent 4 (voiced by Scott Menville): Agent 4 is a strong black agent.
• Agent 13 (voiced by Frank Welker): Dr. Phibes' elderly father.
• Ricky and Mark (voiced by Jeff Bennett and Jim Meskimen): Dr. Phibes' "techies." They are parodies of Napoleon Dynamite and his brother Kip Dynamite. They work for Dr. Phibes and make evil inventions for his own use. Even though they work for Dr. Phibes they will help Shaggy and Scooby if they need it.
• Menace (voiced by Frank Welker): A super-strong villain who is Dr. Phibes' latest minion. After trying the nanotech formula, his strength was increased, but after a while, began to lose his mind. He developed a fondness for kittens (unfortunate for Dr. Phibes, who at the time had used some stolen nanotech to turn himself into a cat) and had smiley faces on his biceps. An obvious parody of Bane.

Other features of the show

With this show, The Scooby-Doo shows have been broadcast on four different networks during nearly four decades. The channels that have carried the Scooby-Doo cartoons are CBS (which aired the original show and the second incarnation), ABC (which aired the following six incarnations), The WB (which aired the ninth), and The CW (which aired the tenth). This does not include the reruns aired on cable and the eleventh on Cartoon Network and the upcoming twelfth series.

This is the first Scooby-Doo animated series since 1991 to make extensive use of the Castle Thunder sound effect, which Hanna-Barbera began to stop using around 1994, and was very rarely used on What's New, Scooby-Doo? and on none of the post-2003 direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movies, to be replaced with new digitally-recorded thunderclaps.

In episode 8, there is one scene where actual footage from a few of the recent Scooby-Doo direct-to-video movies is used. Shaggy even converses about the events in that movie.

Episodes

Home media release

Episodes from the first two volumes were rereleased on multiple Scooby-Doo DVDs in 2010.

Both seasons are available on the iTunes Store.

References

External links

• Official website
• Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! at the Internet Movie Database
• Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! at TV.com